Old Age and Survivor's Insurance

The Social Security Amendments of 1967, enacted January 2, 1968, added a
provision (Section 213(c)) for an alternative method of computing quarters
of coverage, based on earnings before 1951, in determining insured status
where a worker is not insured under the provisions of section 214(a) of
the Act. This alternative method is applicable only to a worker who
applied for old-age insurance benefits under section 202(a) after January
2, 1968, or who dies after that date without becoming entitled to
benefits. Accordingly, the method for computing quarters of coverage
provided by section 213(c) is held not applicable in the case of an
otherwise uninsured worker who died in 1965.

R, born in July 1907, died in December 1965. His widow, W, filed
application in December 1965 for widow's insurance benefits. Section
202(e)(1) of the Act provides that a widow may become entitled to widow's
insurance benefits if (among other requirements not at issue here) the
worker died fully insured. Based on R's date of death, he needed under
section 214(a) of the Act, 14 quarters of coverage to be a fully insured
individual. The term "quarter of coverage," as defined in section
213(a)(2) of the Act, insofar as pertinent her, means a calendar quarter
after 1936 in which an individual was paid wages of $50 or more for
services covered by the Social Security Act.

His earnings record showed that R had only 13 of the 14 quarters of
coverage needed for insured status. All of such quarters were earned
before 1951 (based on wages of $6,080). Since R lacked one quarter of
coverage, he was not fully insured for benefit purposes, under the regular
method for computing quarters of coverage, and W's application was
disallowed.

However, W appealed the disallowance of her claim, and before a final
decision had been made as to her entitlement, the Social Security
Amendments of 1967 (P.L. 90-248) were enacted. Section 155(b) of the
amendments added a provision for an alternative method of determining
quarters of coverage with respect to wages in the period from 1937 to
1950. This new provision, added to section 213 of the Act, reads in
pertinent part as follows:

(c) For purposes of section 214(a), an individual shall be deemed to have
one quarter of coverage for each $400 of his total wages prior to 1051 (as
defined in section 215(d)(1)(C), except where --

(1) such individual is not a fully insured individual on the basis of the
number of quarter of coverage so derived plus the number of quarters of
coverage derived from the wages and self-employment income credited to him
for periods after 1950, or

(2) such individual's elapsed years (for purposes of section 214(a)(1))
are less than 7.

The question to be resolved in whether R, not fully insured at the time
of his death, may be fully insured by reason of the provision added by the
1967 amendments. Under this alternative method, based on the wages
credited for the 1937-1950 period ($6,080 divided by $400), a possible 15
quarters of coverage could thus be acquired, provided this method is
applicable to W's application.

Section 155(b) of the 1967 amendments provides, in pertinent part, that
section 213(c) of the Act is applicable only in the case of a worker who
applies under section 202(a) after January 2, 1968 (the date of
enactment), or who dies after this date without becoming entitled to
benefits under section 202(a) of the Act. The evidence of record
establishes that R never applied for benefits under section 202(a) and
that he died in December 1965, prior to the enactment of the 1967
amendments. Thus he never satisfied the conditions for the application of
section 213(c) of the Act. Consequently, the alternative method for
determining quarters of coverage with respect to wages in the period from
1937 to 1950 cannot be applied in R's case.

Accordingly, since R was not fully insured under the regular provisions
at his death and section 213(c) of the Act is not applicable, held,
W is not entitled to widow's insurance benefits for which she applied.

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